Last Concert Tonight

Tonight at 7:00 p.m. is the final student concert of the Northern Lights Music Festival followed by a reception at a local watering hole. We have appreciated the talent of these young people and the faculty and staff of the festival. We look forward to their return next year!

This banner greeted them each day when they came into town to study and practice and prepare for the wonderful concerts. We will be sad to have it come down.
As they leave town in the morning, we hope that they will have fond memories of their experiences at the Northern Lights Music Festival and our small corner of the world which they helped to expand for the past couple of weeks.

Safe travels to all and thanks much!

Birthday Boys' Concert

Last night we celebrated Mozart's 250th birthday and Shostakovich's 100th birthday. In addition, it is the Centennial year of Minnesota Power (An Alete company), our local township and our local bank. Any one of those would be cause for a celebration in our communities, but all five--now that's a real birthday party!

The Northern Lights Music Festival Chamber Orchestra played Mozart's Divertimento in D Major, K.136 and Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8, arranged for String Orchestra. The Chamber Orchestra was conducted by Gavriel Heine--the first American to receive a combined Bachelors and Masters degree from the Moscow Conservatory--and faculty member of the Music Festival.

After an intermission, the Chamber Orchestra performed Shastakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 35. Bryan Appleby-Wineberg was the trumpet soloist. He is head of the brass division and coordinator of the graduate program in music at Rowan University in NJ. Veda Zuponcic was the piano soloist.

It was VERY hot in the high school auditorium but the applause for the performance raised the heat to the boiling point. It was spectacular.

After the performance, we all adjourned to the Catholic Church across the street for birthday cake and ice cream. The Walkie Talkies have hosted an ice cream social each of the other years. This year the bank and Minnesota Power and the township paid for the cake and ice cream but the WT's served it (thanks to Tee's leadership). It was a wonderful evening.

Irene (L) and Joan (R) cut one of the cakes.

Laurie cuts a cake.

Dorothy (L) and Naomi (R) scoop the ice cream for the guests.




Irene cuts the cake and serves some to Greg Maytan who played the violin in the Chamber Orchestra.

Today the Festival participants are on their way to Ely, MN, to perform at the high school auditorium tonight and to get in some shopping (See our link for The End of the Road at the right). Tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. is the final concert. We will certainly miss the performances and will miss seeing all of the young people out and about in our town.

Once again, we thank Veda for bringing this wonderful Festival to us! We appreciate all of her hard work and that of her entire faculty.

The Music Magic Continues

The magic continues in our little town with the Northern Lights Music Festival.

WT, Pat, said that NASA indicates that there might be an Aurora Borealis this weekend. Wouldn't that be the icing on this musical cake!!

On Friday night, Dr. Lourin Plant, entertained a large crowd with his baritone singing of African-American spirituals with Veda accompanying him on the piano. It was a magnificent concert and the crowd's applause led to two more songs at the end. Dr. Plant teaches at Rowan University in New Jersey and has served as coordinator of the vocal/choral division and conductor of the Rowan University Chamber and Concert Choirs. His presentations on African-American spirituals have been featured in state, regional and international conferences. We appreciate the fact that Veda was able to get him to perform for us and we won't forget the awesome singing and his introductions of the music.

Meet Courtney, a sixteen-year-old cellist from Manalapan, NJ. Courtney received the Honorable Mention Award in the 2006 NJ Symphony Young Artists' Competition and was the first prize winner in the NJ Music Teachers Association Young Artists Competition and has twice represented NJ in the solo Junior Strings Performance competition. She made her solo debut with orchestra at age thirteen with the Edison Symphony. In the summer of 2004, she was featured as a Rising Star for the first Beijing Music Festival, performing in Forbidden City Concert Hall and People's Congress Hall in Tiananman Square. Her performance was broadcast on China Central TV across China. She is the sister of Constance (below).

She performed with the Northern Lights Festival Orchestra on July 4th and with a trio on July 6th. We look forward to her future performances!

Constance, age eleven, made her solo debut at age nine with the Westfield Symphony. She has won numerous music awards including first prize at the Steinway Piano Scholarship Competition, first prize for her age group twice at the NJ Music Teachers Assoc. Young Artists' Competition. She won first prize on both violin and piano one year for this. She has also received awards for the Young Pianists of NJ Concerto Competition and at the Cecilian Music Club auditions. She has performed at the Alice Tully Hall of the Lincoln Center, Aarnegie Weill Recital Hall and Steinway Hall. In the summer of 2004, Constance was featured as a Rising Star for the first Beijing Music Festival, performing in Forbidden City Concert Hall land People's Congress Hall in Tiananman Square. Her performance was broadcase on China Central Television across China. She is the sister of Courtney (above).

Constance performed with the Northern Lights Festival Orchestra on July 4th and she performed Bach's Solo Suite No. 2 in d minor on June 30th. No doubt, we will hear from her again.

Chelsea is twelve years old, from West Des Moines, Iowa, and will be entering seventh grade this fall. She plays the piano and the violin and has won many piano competitions. Ag age six she received second place at the CCSN First Piano Concerto Competition in the Junior Division in Nevada. She has also won state in the Iowa Music Teachers Assoc. competition. Other than music, Chelsea likes to read, spell and swim. Academicaly, she has also been nominated as best writer in school, most academically achieved and many others. She has represented her school for many math, spelling and writing contests.

She performed on July 4th as part of the Northern Lights Festival Orchestra and on July 6th as part of a piano quintet.

Isabella is a thirteen-year-old pianist from Minneapolis. She has been studying piano for seven years. She has received many awards, including first place in the pre-teen division of the 2006 La Musique Music Studios Rising Star contest and second place in the 7th-9th grade division of the 2006 Northwestern College Piano Festival. Isabells also has a penchant for theater and has acted at the Guthrie Theater and the MN Opera. Her performance as Annie in Annie at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres gained her the Minneapolis StarTribune's title of Outstanding Youth Performer in Twin Cities Theater 2004. She has also dabbled in radio and film and is a singer, percussionist and guitarist. She has sung the National Anthem at Mn Twins, Gopher and Saints games. Recently she placed 11th in the Junior Individual Performance category at the National History Day competition in Washington, DC. She takes math the the University of MN, is a member of a championship-winning Quiz Bowl team and several of her essay have been reatured in the national magazine Discovery Girls.

Isabella performed Ginastera's Danzas argentinas at the concert onJuly 2nd.

WT, Laurie, and her niece Bobbi, have displayed several ethnic constumes in the showcases in the school to welcome the Festival participants. We congratulate them on the work that went into this display--many of the concert-goers have commented about this display and all have enjoyed it.

Slovenian costume.
Traditional Japanese costume.
Sami-Finnish clothing.

This writer will be absent for a few days. However, we hope that the rest of you will enjoy the concerts that follow:

Saturday, July 8: Student Concert at 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, July 9: By Kids for Kids Concert at 4:00 p.m.

Tuesday, July 11: Student Concert at 7:00 p.m.

Music Festival Continues With Great Success

Your 'Blog writer has been too lax this week and apologizes to all of our loyal readers.

The Northern Lights Music Festival continues to enchant and entertain the folks in our communities. The faculty and students have provided six concerts already with six more to go. Some of us are already starting to remember from previous summers the "concert/culture withdrawal" we will soon be suffering when they leave. We must enjoy the concerts while they last and to continue to be enthralled by the young people who are bringing us all of these wonderful performances and to be grateful to Veda for wanting to host the Festival in her home town.

Meet Khristian Erich, age 15, who was born in Puerto Rico. He lives in Stamford, CT, and will be a sophomore at Iona Preparatory School in New Rochelle, NY. He participates in the Superior Talent Educational Program at school and is a member of the speech and debate team, the varsity tennis team, and the Music Ministry Group. He also sings with his church choir and volunteers at a senior citizen residence. His piano teacher is Mitsuko Ichimura. His recital circuit includes halls like the Greenwich Arts Center, Steinway Hall and Carnegie Hall. Last summer he performed in Budapest, Hungary. Khristian is participating for the second year at the Northern Lights Music Festival. In his spare time, he enjoys astronomy and reading mystery novels. After the Festival, he will be taking a course in neurophsychology at Brown University.

Khristian has performed in several of the concerts so far: Mozart's Sonata in C Major, K.330 onJuly 6th and Ravel's Sonatine on June 30th.

Meet Magadalena, age 15. She began her piano study at age five and flute study at age seven. She currently studies the flute with Loren Lind of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the piano with Veda Zuponcic. She is an accompanist at her church and also in various other churches and schools throughout New Jersey. She has received numerous honors in many areas and was accepted into the All South Jersey Junior High Bands on flute and piccolo for several years, and the Symphonic Band also. She ws invited to travel to Prague this summer to take part in an international music camp/festival. She is active in her high school orchestra and church. In addition to music, Magdalena enjoys quilting, writing, scrapbooking and spending time with her family.

Magdalena performed Franck's Sonata in A Major on July 2nd and was part of a trio that performed Beethoven's Trio in B flat Major, Op 11 on July 6th.

Meet Armine, age 23, who was born in Armenia, has studied and performed in Europe. She is currently in her fourth year of study at the Yerevan Conservatory. She performed Komitas Armenian Folk Dances at the concert on July 2nd.

Meet Wolfgang (Wolfie), age 9, and just finished third grade at Park Spanish Immersion School in Minneapolis. He stated playing piano at age 4 and cello at age 5. He has performed a soloist with the St. Paul Chamber orchestra. He was a semifinalist at the MN State Fair Talent Show in 2004. He enjoys sharing his music with audiences. He is a member of the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies. He has many other loves, including a twelve-year-old sister, a goldfish, camping, iPOD, soccer, tennis, books and gadgets. He loves to travel and loves to read the Sunday flyers!

Wolfie performed Gabriel Faure's Elegie at the concert onJuly 2nd.

Happy Fourth of July!

The Children's parade was great today. The VFW/Legion Color Guard follows all of the fire trucks. As they turned the corner on to Main Street, the City Band played the National Anthem. Jerry carries the flag proudly. A couple of WT's are in the background: Elsie, Joan and Dorothy. A grand day!

The piccolo part of "The Stars and Stripes Forever" always gets resounding applause because of the playing of Karen M. Great performance (as good as any on the television specials!)!

It's a Grand Old Flag! Let's celebrate America's birthday today!

We Love A Parade!

Happy Third of July!

What is a parade without the fire trucks! It's a good thing that we did not have a fire in town during the parade! All seven trucks plus those of neighboring areas led the parade--from the old (above) to the new (left). The children love to hear the sirens! The volunteer firemen gave away fire helmets to all the children along the parade route (now we see the results of all of those Spaghetti Feeds!).

Dr. Barnes was the Grand Marshall of the parade, which means that our WT, Pat, was at his side riding in the parade.

Our WT, Dorothy, is the Mayor's wife, so she also rode in the parade!
The Northern Lights Music Festival participants rode in the parade on the Minnesota Power float. Many of the kids brought ethnic costumes with them to the camp because they had all heard about the Fourth in town and the fact that they would be riding on the float. They all seemed to be having a great time and got a rousing round of applause all along the parade route! Note: Irene's granddaughter, Kelley, who works for MP, helped design and decorate the float. Great job, Kelley!
Minnesota Power has been "Electrifying a Century" now. They are a corporate sponsor of the Music Festival. On Wednesday, July 12, there is a big Birthday Bash at the auditorium--we will celebrate the Birthday Boys (Shostakovich and Mozart), the 100th for our local Township, the 100th for our local bank (also a corportate sponsor) and the 100th for Minnesota Power. There will be birthday cake for everyone! Sounds like another great evening!
The Fourth of July is a big deal on the Iron Range. Even with the parade on a Monday evening, there were still plenty of people around. Tomorrow there will be a City Band Concert at 11:00 a.m. followed by the Children's parade at noon. Throughout the day there will be many activities.

There will be a Northern Lights Music Festival Concert at 4:00 p.m. in the high school auditorium. Another one for us all to enjoy--looks as if there will be some Sousa and other patriotic music!

Northern Lights Music Festival--Concert #2

Another concert tonight at 7:00: The Northern Lights Music Festival Faculty will be entertaining the community with a Beethoven Cello Sonata, Chopin 4th Ballade and other works. This will be the first time this year that we will hear Veda play, which is always a wonderful time for all involved.

Check out the information about this little pianist below:

Meet Joo Hyung who is seven years' old and is going into the second grade in Stamford, CT. She is a Student Council representative, and participates in numerous other extracurricular activities--chess, ballet, soroban (abacus), swimming and golf. She is originally from Seoul, Korea, but has lived in Abu Dhabi, Bangkok, Washington, D.C., and Phildadelphia. She has only been playing the piano for 9 months! Her instructor is Mitsuko Ichimura, who is one of the Festival faculty members. She has played in student recitals in NY, NJ, and CT and last month she played in the annual student recital at Carnegie Hall!

At last night's concert, she entertained us with Four Kabalevsky pieces: Fairy Tale, Meadow Dance, Playing Ball, Galop. She is quite the charmer and we look forward to seeing her perform again!

Northern Lights--Successful Opening Night

The Opening Night Concert of Laureates, Friday, June 30th, was a success! Once again, Veda Zuponcic, our home-grown concert pianist, put together a wonderful concert for the opening of the third annual Northern Lights Music Festival. Veda Zuponcic.
Kevin, age 14, from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, performed Bartok's Rumanian Dance, Op. 8a. Kevin, age 14, will be entering ninth grade in Cherry Hill, NJ, where he is active in the Jazz Band and other music endeavors. He was a finalist in the Young Pianist Competition in NJ. He has been taking lessons since age 5. In addition to being an accomplished pianist, he is also a tremendous math student, having won a math award from Johns Hopkins University. Kevin enjoys both classical and jazz music.

The audience tonight enjoyed his Festival debut and remembered him from his former perfomances here.

Northern Lights Music Festival Begins!

The Northern Lights Music Festival staff and students have arrived (See link on the right). They have already established a presence here! The students have been out and about in our small town--we notice them because they are always moving pretty quickly (must get in some practice time!). We will try to keep you updated with the schedule from time to time. Look at this space to see photos of some of the students also.

The first concert is on Friday, June 30th, at 7:00 p.m. in the school auditorium--the gem of our school! The Opening Concert of Laureates features those who have won awards at some point/stage. It promises to be a well-attended concert. Tee has arranged for the ushers for the concerts. Mary is already involved in getting them moving from place to place and to be sure everything is functioning well for them.

We are so lucky to have this festival in our town!

Mother and Baby Doing Well

The little fawn that was born at the end of May is doing well and romps with its mother around and about Jodie's house. It is interesting because each morning they are very close to where the fawn was "nesting" after it was born (See 'Blog entry for May 30th).

As the doe watches Jodie in the window, the fawn is already eating the underbrush in the woods. How long will it be before it gets into Jodie's flower beds? Only Mother Nature knows for sure.

And now--The Rest of the News!

Did not have time yesterday to include ALL of The Shopper news, so more follows:

The memorial softball tournament was a huge success. From the dinner and dance right through the weekend of softball, there was great weather and all. The money that was raised went to the fireworks on the Fourth and the Music Festival. There is a list of folks/businesses who donated time, money and in-kind gifts for the event.

Our own Emily and Elton, her husband, are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. Since none of their children could be with them, they are having a potluck at the Methodist Church on Sunday, June 25th. Elton is the minister at the church!

The children in a nearby town can play "Name That Tune" as part of the activities at the public library on June 20th. All songs will be Disney-based. It sounds as if the prizes and treats will be well worth all the fun.

They are still looking for volunteers for the parade on the Fourth--to carry signs for the parade. The carriers even get paid $5.00! Such a deal!

The local Queen Candidates have their photos and short biographical information in a full-page ad. There are five of them running this year. the winner gets a $500 scholarship upon completion of at least one term of school beyond high school. the coronation takes place on July 2 on the stage on Main Street at 5:30 p.m. They also ride in all of the area parades. The contestants and the local businesses sell buttons for this event to raise money. We like to collect all of them from year to year!

The local bank continues to celebrate its centennial. There are photos of some of the past presidents. Some of us are old enough to recognize several of them!

There are several garage sales again.

Jim's Dirt Pile: "If you want filler, anything will do. For growning gardens, grass and flowers, get Real Dirt." We wonder what the difference is!

The fishing contest continues: A smaller walleye this week (just a tad over 5 pounds) and a big northern (well over 16 pounds). There is still a lot of fishing time left this summer!

The deer are on the move again now that they have had their young. Ultimate Body and Frame indicates that if we hit a deer in our vehicles, they do touch-ups and totals. Clever!

The nearby berry farm is advertising strawberries--fresh-picked or U-pick! Must get in an order!

The Garden Center is having its Closeout Sale--half price on most of the plants. So--if any of us lost any to the frost a week ago, perhaps they'll have some of what we need.

No ad for the theatre again, so we don't know what is playing there. Of course, we can call or drive by to check it out. We love the convenience of seeing it advertised, however.

And now you know "The Rest of the Story!" Until next week . . .

Weekend Shopper News

It's all here for you now--the latest news from the Northland from our own Shopper!

It's a busy time for our small town as we prepare for four VERY big events:

1. The A&W Classic Car Cruise Night is on Tuesday, June 20, from 5:00 to 9:00. There will be games, prizes, the cars, of course, and music by a local deejay. They warn us that there are no 'phone orders after 4:30 p.m. that day. That's good as there will be so much traffic that one couldn't get in with a vehicle to pick up an order! This is "a very good thing" as it brings in people with their cars and spectators from several miles away. Some folks drive their classic cars from 60 miles away!

2. The Relay For Life occurs next Friday/Saturday, June 23-24, at the local park. There are ten teams that will be walking and almost ninety cancer survivors that will provide an inspiration for everyone, indicating that we CAN win the battle! The week begins on Wednesday with a Community Dinner from 4:00-6:30 p.m. On Friday the survivors will be honored at an afternoon reception. All day Friday, teams will be setting up their campsites and booths at the park. In the event of rain (as in the past two years), it will be held at a nearby hockey arena. The schedule of events takes up a full page in the paper: 6:00 a Live Auction, 7:00 the Opening Ceremony followed by the Survivors' Victory Lap (led by a bagpiper), 8:45 the Luminary Lighting Ceremony and 9:00 the Caregivers' Circle. From then until midnight there will be plenty of music. The next morning reveille is at 6:15, followed by the final lap and then the Closing Ceremony. We can purchase luminaria for $10. They will line the track and provide the light for the walkers throughout the night. This is also a "very good thing."

3. The Northern Lights Music Festival (see link at the right) kicks off on Friday, June 30th, with a Concert of Laureates. There will be concerts almost every night for two weeks. It will be amazing to see the number of folks who go to every single one of them. The WT's will hand out programs and collect donations at the door. This writer thinks that this year, others will also be asked to help. Our own Mary is kind of the "resident hostess" for the group during their stay at the resort nearby. All of the concerts will be held in our beautiful and acoustically delightful auditorium (more about that in another 'Blog entry). We all look forward to the Festival, not only for the music but also because our local concert pianist, Veda Zuponcic, will be out and about as she directs the camp and performs herself. We also love to see the young people from some pretty fancy places out East and from Europe "tooling" around and enjoying all that our small town has to offer! An especially "good thing."

4. The Fourth of July, Patriotic Days, start on June 30th and go until (DUH!) July 4th. There are Festival Concerts on June 30th and July 1st. July 2: A golf scramble, the 60th celebration at our local American Legion (where we can enjoy some 1946 prices during the "Attitude Adjustment."), the hog roast as part of Freedom Fete, another concert, and a City Band Concert (more about that in another 'Blog entry), outdoor music and entertainment at a local watering hole. July 3: A children's pie-eating contest starts the day. Throughout the day there will be kid's rides and games at the Community Center. The High School jazz band will perform at 12:30. The Patriotic Parade starts at 6:00 p.m. and there will be fireworks starting at 10:00 p.m. (All of those spaghetti feeds and other fund-raising events paid for that!). July 4: There is a run/walk on the beautiful trail system from the ski/golf resort to town, a city band concert at 11:00 a.m., the Children's Patriotic Parade at noon, followed by the Kid's Races on Main Street (remember those fire department fund raisers?). There will be a Student Concert by the Festival folks at 4:00 p.m. Another "very good thing."

We are going to be so busy with all of these "very good things" that we are going to forget the rest of the news from The Shopper for now. We will catch you next week!

Have a great week. Think about what you will be missing if you do not visit us in the next couple of weeks!!!

Lupines Galore

The Duluth paper today mentioned that we could "leave the fall foliage to busloads of tourists" because the time to see some neat colors in the Northland is right now--the wild lupine are nearing their blooming peak. These photos are from the hill behind the house of one of the WT's.

Lupine are tall, spiky flowers with a peppery scent. They are usually blue-violet, but you can also see pink, yellow or red ones. They grow wild along the highways and in the woods. The birds help to "transplant" them when the seed pods form.
From the Duluth paper: "Lupine derive their name from lupus, which is Latin for 'wolflike'. It was so-named because it was thought to 'wolf' down soil nutrients. However, lupine, which is a member of the pear family, actually enriches the soil by taking nitrogen from the air and instilling it in the soil . . .They are the only known host plant for the endangered Karner blue butterfly."

They are certainly gorgeous at this time of year. We are lucky to be living in the Northland!

Saturday--It's The Shopper News!

We'll take a break from the Outback because, once again, we have all that is new and good from The Shopper.

Our own WT, Laurie, is the weekly winner of the Community Spirit $50. We wonder who sold her the winning ticket???? Will we get a free cup of coffee this week?

As the Relay For Life draws closer (June 23-24) there are more ads for fund-raisers and other information. The Community Dinner will be held on Wednesday, June 21, at the Community Center. This year they are serving Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, beverages and cake. The cost is only $5, so that is a great deal for a wonderful cause.

Must be summer--the beach is opening (Of course, one is closed due to lack of applicants for lifeguard positions!).

The Chamber of Commerce has its quarterly meeting on June 15. The list of members is listed. It is interesting to see which businesses are in the Chamber and even more interesting to see which ones did not join. One always wonders why!

The "Spruce Up" Committee has been busy planting the gardens and boxes around town. They are looking for volunteers to "weed wack." They all really do a great job in making our town so beautiful with all the flowers!

There is a summer salad luncheon on June 21st in a neighboring town to sponsor their Water Carnival, which is held at the end of July. The Water Carnival is a great event for everyone.

The Utility Department will be flushing the hydrants and they are warning us to be prepared for some discoloration of the water. All we have to do is run the faucets until the water clears. We are blessed with good and plentiful water.

Fishing Contest: A 7-pounder won the walleye division and a 13-pounder won the northern division. There are plenty of good prizes each week. The Sport Stop does a great job with this during the summer. Just noticed that he is advertising bug jackets and pants on his reader board. This has been a terrible year for mosquitoes and, especially, "sandflies" (a little bug that lives on the blood of humans. Many of us walk around during May and June with wonderful looking bites!). This, too, shall end!

There's a meeting of the Youth Hockey group. They need to get a group together to decorate a float for the Fourth of July. Thank Heavens! For a minute, this writer thought we must have skipped summer!

There's an ad for Black Dirt and it indicates that we should get "the REAL stuff!" We wonder what that is! Is there a "Wrong" stuff???

Looks as if the theatre didn't place an ad. How will we know if "Prairie Home Companion" will be here soon? What should we do?

Sorry it's so short this week. We all have to save our strength to get ready for the Fourth! Have a good week!

More from Australia by Joan

While we were in Melbourne, we visited the Shrine of Remembrance. It was originally built to honor WWI servicemen but has been changed to include all wars. Upstairs in a rotunda area lies a tomb of the unknown soldier situated such that on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month each year the sun shines directly on the tomb inscription. We watched a reenactment of this. It was quite impressive. This will happen for 3000 years. The picture above shows the tomb with its incsription.


Of course, when you visit Sydney, you must have a photo at the harbor showing the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge, so here we are. Lorraine climbed the bridge along with about half a dozen others from our tour group. I was not one of them!


While we were in Sydney, the Bears for Understanding, were on tour and set up at the Sydney Harbor. Each bear is designed and decorated by one of the member nations of the United Nations. They are on world tour to raise money for UNICEF and when they are finished will be actioned for more money for UNICEF. The idea came from Einstein's quote; "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be acheived by understanding". The bear above is the Einstein Bear with the quote inscribed on it.


Here is the US Bear.


A small section of the display showing a few of the bears. There were 124 in all.

More on Australia by Joan

Guess it is past time to get in a few more photos and comments from my trip Down Under. I showed you our visit to Uluru and the sunset. We also attended sunrise but since it was somewhat cloudy, the pictures of Uluru were not spectacular. However, I caught a couple of the sunrise that I liked real well so I will post them. We also visited another rock formation which is also sacred to the Aboriginies and I have a nice picture of that which I will post. The formation is called The Olgas.

Lorraine and I also met up with some of the wildlife while in Australia and I will share some of those photos with you as well.



Sun just beginning to rise



A few minutes later




The Olgas



Lorraine and me with our friend the Koala



Me, up close and personal with a Roo. We also saw kangaroos in the wild.



At the hotel where we stayed in Cairns, the egrets roosted in the tree outside our room every night. Here they are.

Disney World Revisited

Joan has returned from a week at Disney World with all of her children and grandchildren. Following is her report of the trip.

The trip was prompted by my youngest son's inquiry as to whether I had ever been back to Disney since I took the family there in 1977. The reply to that question was no. Son then said, "you should go again sometime". My reply was, "I'd like to". Soooo, on my 70th birthday last fall I received a Micky Mouse with the note, "We are all going to Disney World in May". Three children, their spouses and all 7 grandchildren made the trip arriving on Thursday evening May 18. Also joining us was son Brian's in laws, Charlie and Sharon Guthrie. We stayed at the Carribean Beach Resort and rode a bus to any and all attractions. We all spent a whole day at the Magic Kingdom together and another day at Animal Kingdom together. On the third day some of the folks went to a water park. Daughter Holly and family left Sunday night to go to Cocoa Beach so Kelsey could see the ocean. She had never flown and had never been out of Minnesota so this was a big adventure for her. On Monday those of us remaining went to Epcot for the day. Dan and family left on Tuesday morning. The remaining troops spent Tuesday at MGM. On Wednesday, I returned to Epcot by myself to take in the World Villages. Since Epcot was the main reason I wanted to go to Disney again, this was a most enjoyable day. I had a cheese and wine snack in France and Bratwurst and Kraut for lunch in Germany!

Besides the regular stuff at the parks, our group took in a couple of special events. On our first morning in Disney we had breakfast with the princesses. A real treat for the little girls. A good breakfast too. On Saturday night we took in an event where we went by boat to watch the fireworks. That was a great excursion. We rode the monorail as part of our transportation to that event and the older grands.....5 and up..... were invited to ride in the drivers cab. What a thrill!

In a pole of everyone, the favorite ride was the new one at Epcot called Soarin'. You sat in chairs buckled in and then lifted off so you felt like you were flying while an Imax type of movie of sites in California played out all around you. I found myself raising my feet so I wouldn't his the Golden Gate Bridge and ducking when the golf ball came at me. I almost kicked a surfer and thought sure I was falling off the mountain in the snowing scene.

The weather was very hot while we were there but we survived and did have a wonderful time.





In the first photos grandkids Sarah, Rachel, Jacob and Anna pose in front of a Nemo display. Next is Matthew looking over Captain Hook. Third photo is Natalie and Kelsey visiting with Snow White at the Princess breakfast.

A Brief Shopper Report

This will be a very short report from this week's Shopper:

The front page this week is a full-page ad for a local watering hole/restaurant. They will be offering delivery service 7 days a week. That makes it kind of nice for some of us who want to stay home after a full day of work in our garden/yard and want to shower and clean up and then eat in our "jammies."

There are several ads for employment opportunities for young people. It almost is starting to appear that our young ones might not be very interested in looking for jobs this summer because the ads have been in for several weeks--the life guards at the beach, cooks and counselors at the 4-H camp, etc.

A cute ad for a class reunion mentions that "If you are the parent, sibling or feiend of a 1986 graduate, theis is your chance to get even for all those gray hairs caused by your adult child during his or her teenage years." The ad suggests that we send in the best and most embarrassing photos to the committee. Are we that nasty? Yes, we can be!

The Relay For Life fundraisers are still in full swing. The night of the event is coming up soon.
The local bank team had many items to "raffle" and cookbooks for sale. One of the teams is hosting a concert. Another team is hosting a midnight bowling, poker tourney, and food raffles coming up at a local bowling alley. Guess we'd better play our favorite Polka Pal Don song--"Grab Your Balls, We're Going Bowling" and take off. By the way, he played a couple of songs for the WT's on Saturday on WELY.

The big softball Memorial Weekend is coming up. The Swiss Steak Dinner on Friday night should be well-attended--a good break from spaghetti feeds! It's only $6.00. Doesn't get any better than that!

Vacation Bible Schools and day camps are being advertised. The kids sometimes get bored right away??? Have to keep them busy early on. There are more that are scheduled for August. Parents could be really ecumenical and send their kids to several of them!

Some of the beaches are opening on Saturday, June 10th. It has been warm lately, so the water must be warming up. However in this area, the definition of "warm" might not be the same as that in the banana belt south of us!

The Fishing Contest: A 6 pound, 10 oz. walleye and a 3 pound northern won this week.

Cruise Night at the local A&W is June 20th. It is amazing the number of folks that show up in their classic cars for the event (one in June and one in August). This is about the16th year of the Classic Car Cruise night at our A&W, which is the old drive-in style place with carhops and no electronic ordering. The WT's always have a good contingent that attends this event!

Playing at the movie theatre: "Over the Hedge" and "The DaVinci Code." "Poseidon" starts on Friday.

Until next week . . . Stay out of a little bit of trouble but get into enough trouble to say that you have had a good time!

WT's Always on the Move

It seems as if someone from our group is always on the move:

Joan is back from a family trip to Disneyland in California. She came back full of some kind of bug bites. They had a great time and she'll be adding photos and information to the 'Blog in the next day or so and we'll be anxious to hear/see more about it.

Laurie is winging her way to California today to visit her daughter. The two of them will also spend some time in Rosarita, Mexico.

Pat and her husband cruise to Alaska beginning on Friday. She'll come back with many tales also.

Mary leaves this morning for Virginia where she is doing a seminar. She left equipped with many stories about all of us folks in the small town.

Irene has been back and forth to Duluth to the hospital as her husband had lung surgery. He is now home and doing well (and so is she after her foot surgery), so she is walking once again. Jodie will be following that trail to Duluth beginning on Monday when her husband has hip replacement surgery.

Emily is still trying to fit in a trip to Salt Lake City to see their new grandson. Looks as if June 12th might be the departure date.

We never let any grass grow under us.